[smokeping-users] empty graph for DNS.pm and TCPPing.pm

[Gregory Sloop]

+1

I'll just emphasize that the *vast* majority of the problems in smokeping reduce to about two sets of errors - all related to file/directory permissions.

The problems boil down to;
1) Smokeping itself [or more clearly, the user smokeping is running as - and remember it may run as root at the CLI, but as something different when started by the system] can't write to the RRDs or the directory where the RRD's are to be stored. 
2) The web-server can't *read* the RRD's because it doesn't have rights.

[far less common, but the same base issue]
3) In master/slave setups - the slaves [via the web-server] can't write to the RRD's - because the web-server doesn't have rights to the RRDs.

In short:
Smokeping master/stand-alone uses the smokeping user to write to the RRDs
Smokeping master/stand-alone; web-server user has to *read* the RRD's to produce graphs.
In slave setups, the slaves *write* their data to the RRD's via the web-server user.

---
Having just skimmed this thread - I will note that it *appears* as though the RRD's _are_ getting written to. 
And the complaint is that the web graphs are blank.
So, that almost always points to the user the web-server is running as, as not having the proper rights to read the RRD's.

Check the web-server logs. Make sure the RRD's have permissions that will allow the web-server you're using [the user it's running as] to read the RRDs

If that doesn't resolve things - and you're sure you've got it right...

Search the archives - it seems like someone recently grabbed a tcpping from somewhere on the net [but it might have been one of the other probes - I can't recall] and it wasn't compatible with smokeping, essentially. IIRC, they found the version smokeping was built for, and things started working again. [Sorry for the vague recall, but that's what I've got in my head.]

-Greg

GF> hmm I don't see any indication that probing has any issue in your output.

GF> I'm also not sure what you mean by "BEFORE fix" and "AFTER fix". what
GF> fix do you mean? and does the fix make things work?

GF> otherwise, to pursue things with very general and unguided advice: maybe
GF> the probe is actually able to create rrd files, but then the files are
GF> not accessible to the web interface? check out their permissions to be
GF> sure they let your web interface access them.

GF> On 2019-02-21 12:32 a.m., Xuefer wrote:
>> i did try --debug but failed to figure out what's wrong. i thought i
>> copied pasted the output, LOL, must have been thinking too many
>> things. here we go:

>> ======================  BEFORE fix:
>> # chpst -u smokeping smokeping --debug
>> ### assuming you are using an tcpping copy reporting in milliseconds
>> ### assuming you are using an tcpping copy reporting in milliseconds
>> ### parsing /etc/smokeping/fast-cli output... OK (version 0.0.1)
>> Smokeping version 2.006009 successfully launched.
>> Not entering multiprocess mode with '--debug'. Use '--debug-daemon' for that.
>> PingNormal: probing 0 targets with step 300 s and offset 181 s.
>> Curl_fast_com: probing 0 targets with step 1200 s and offset 181 s.
>> Curl_small: probing 0 targets with step 60 s and offset 181 s.
>> PingFreq: probing 1 targets with step 10 s and offset 181 s.
>> PingFreq: forks 5, timeout for each target 181
>> PingFreq: Executing /etc/smokeping/tcpping -C -x 3 58.60.9.21
>> PingFreq: Received: GLOB(0x1bbb6b8)
>> PingFreq: 58.60.9.21: got 7.3530000000e-03 7.3670000000e-03 8.4730000000e-03
>> Calling RRDs::update(/var/lib/smokeping/Global/qq-com.rrd --template
>> uptime:loss:median:ping1:ping2:ping3
>> 1550726988:U:0:7.3670000000e-03:7.3530000000e-03:7.3670000000e-03:8.4730000000e-03)

>> ====================== AFTER fix:
>> # chpst -u smokeping smokeping --debug
>> ### assuming you are using an tcpping copy reporting in milliseconds
>> ### assuming you are using an tcpping copy reporting in milliseconds
>> ### parsing /etc/smokeping/fast-cli output... OK (version 0.0.1)
>> Smokeping version 2.006009 successfully launched.
>> Not entering multiprocess mode with '--debug'. Use '--debug-daemon' for that.
>> Curl_small: probing 0 targets with step 60 s and offset 212 s.
>> PingFreq: probing 1 targets with step 10 s and offset 212 s.
>> PingNormal: probing 0 targets with step 300 s and offset 212 s.
>> Curl_fast_com: probing 0 targets with step 1200 s and offset 212 s.
>> PingFreq: forks 5, timeout for each target 181
>> PingFreq: Executing /etc/smokeping/tcpping -C -x 3 58.60.9.21
>> PingFreq: Received: GLOB(0x1bba328)
>> PingFreq: 58.60.9.21: got 0.0070280000 0.0073690000 0.0080560000
>> Calling RRDs::update(/var/lib/smokeping/Global/qq-com.rrd --template
>> uptime:loss:median:ping1:ping2:ping3
>> 1550727004:U:0:0.0073690000:0.0070280000:0.0073690000:0.0080560000)
>> ====================== FPing don't need fix:
>> # chpst -u smokeping smokeping --debug
>> ### parsing /etc/smokeping/fast-cli output... OK (version 0.0.1)
>> Smokeping version 2.006009 successfully launched.
>> Not entering multiprocess mode with '--debug'. Use '--debug-daemon' for that.
>> Curl_small: probing 0 targets with step 60 s and offset 292 s.
>> PingNormal: probing 0 targets with step 300 s and offset 292 s.
>> PingFreq: probing 1 targets with step 10 s and offset 292 s.
>> Curl_fast_com: probing 0 targets with step 1200 s and offset 292 s.
>> PingFreq: Executing /etc/smokeping/fping -C 3 -q -B1 -r1 -t60000 -i10 58.60.9.21
>> PingFreq: Got fping output: '58.60.9.21 : 5.91 5.69 8.00'
>> Calling RRDs::update(/var/lib/smokeping/Global/qq-com.rrd --template
>> uptime:loss:median:ping1:ping2:ping3
>> 1550727021:U:0:5.9100000000e-03:5.6900000000e-03:5.9100000000e-03:8.0000000000e-03)
>> ======================

>> %e a floating-point number, in scientific notation
>> %f a floating-point number, in fixed decimal notation
>> but i suppose rrdtool accept scientific notation

>> # rrdtool --version
>> RRDtool 1.6.01.6.0  Copyright by Tobias Oetiker <tobi at oetiker.ch>
>>                Compiled Feb  7 2019 00:14:34

>> the above log were reproduced under system: gentoo
>> i can also reproduce it in in openwrt

>> On Thu, Feb 21, 2019 at 1:14 PM Gabriel Filion <gabster at lelutin.ca> wrote:

>>> On 2019-02-21 12:12 a.m., Gabriel Filion wrote:
>>>> On 2019-02-20 12:52 p.m., Xuefer wrote:
>>>>> FPing.pm works fine but DNS and TCPPing  is producing empty graph. i
>>>>> failed to find the actual clause since i'm not a perl guy, but i
>>>>> manage to workaround it by changnig "%.10e" into ".10f", can any
>>>>> developer take a look into this?

>>>> you should start smokeping with the --daemon argument to get more

>>> oops sorry I'm too tired to type :\ that should have been --debug (not
>>> --daemon)

>>>> information. it'll show you what commands it's running, but also the
>>>> probe binary's output if it's erroring out.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.oetiker.ch/pipermail/smokeping-users/attachments/20190221/dcba407d/attachment.html>